New Stadium...different view

[Strykr]

Roots Hall may have 12,300 seats (12,500 according to the official website), i will conceed that but there will never be an occasion when every seat will be sold ! This is because the police insist on a certain amount allocated for the away fans and also a segregation area for safety reasons (We only managed 11,532 for the Man Utd match). The approximate amount of fans that can be accomodated in the stadium is around 11,500. Thus, using your figures for the Championship season the total capacity available is 264,500 which means that there were only 33,933 or an average of 1477 per game. When you consider that some away teams only bought followings of 1000 or so that means that 1000 seats were unused and unusable in the stadium, that would leave 477 of which there are plenty of severely restricted view tickets (Back row of south upper, first row of south lower and first row of west stand) lets for arguements sake say 250 of them leaves only 227 home seats per game that were unoccupied ! And even some of that could be accounted for in holidays, sickness and evening games.

Now think about a nice 22,000 seater stadium, our average last year was 8,000ish it would enable the club to do offers like Leyton Orient, bring a friend for free which could potentially bring in a crowd of 16/18000 or and offer like Col U where NHS staff get tickets for a fiver which could bolster the crowd. We have in the past done offers for school children and we could possibly give 2,000 per game to encourage them to follow us. Then in a generations time (yes i am looking very long term) they might just bring their 2.4 children to watch and that 2,000 is now 6,800 more. We will be in the new stadium for a very long time, we wont fill it week in week out but in 25 years time whoknows ??

thats the stuff, sod this kid for a quid stuff, just have all kids for a fiver or less, or maybe free for a season, I imagine most of us that post on here follow the blues cos we were taken as kids by our dads, many kids got turned onto the blues cos of the back to back promotions/manu game. reality is if we ever get to FF we need some lucky purchases of players, & some exciting football, success breeds success. im happy to turn up at the hall and watch us grind out a 1-0 against teams like stockport now, but when i came as a kid there was big Roy, and richard caddette tearing the oppo apart, watching my team became infectious to the point that i'd still turn up and sit with 3000 other (fools:) supporters watching the likes of connolly and david morley ! i must need my head examined!! the point being, u can get hooked to SUFC through thick and thin.

 

[Angell Delight]

True, there have been times when a bigger ground would have suited us. But there have also been times when Roots Hall has been too big for us and a half filled stadium looks silly. Now just imagine we were in the CCC, spent a fair bit on players, and tried pushing for the Prem, but we are only attracting 11-12k people per week. Will we turn over enough revenue to pay decent wages to the required calibre of players?

As for Reading and Wigan, they have had so much financial backing its ridiculous

You're also forgetting about the other parts to the development which should ensure extra revenue for the football club (hotel, shopping complex, flats, casino etc) and RH doesn't have that. These facilities will ensure the football club is earning revenue 24/7.

 

[grassroots]

You're also forgetting about the other parts to the development which should ensure extra revenue for the football club (hotel, shopping complex, flats, casino etc) and RH doesn't have that. These facilities will ensure the football club is earning revenue 24/7.

I'd wager that none of these will be owned by the football club.

 

[united we stand]

Reading a lot of the posts here I think i have had my 'eureka' moment. Now everyone wants the stadium to be filled ,and lots think it wont be so.........

I have just seen a geezer in a yellow three wheeled van who says he can get hold of some full size blow up dolls at a good price . He can also get me some blue football shirts , the sponsor is T.I.T- but who cares.a packed stadium is a packed stadium...... Does anyone have Ron's number----I could make a killing on this

 

[blue shrimp]

I'd wager that none of these will be owned by the football club.

Thats the way i see it as well.

 

[blue shrimp]

Roots Hall may have 12,300 seats (12,500 according to the official website), i will conceed that but there will never be an occasion when every seat will be sold ! This is because the police insist on a certain amount allocated for the away fans and also a segregation area for safety reasons (We only managed 11,532 for the Man Utd match). The approximate amount of fans that can be accomodated in the stadium is around 11,500. Thus, using your figures for the Championship season the total capacity available is 264,500 which means that there were only 33,933 or an average of 1477 per game. When you consider that some away teams only bought followings of 1000 or so that means that 1000 seats were unused and unusable in the stadium, that would leave 477 of which there are plenty of severely restricted view tickets (Back row of south upper, first row of south lower and first row of west stand) lets for arguements sake say 250 of them leaves only 227 home seats per game that were unoccupied ! And even some of that could be accounted for in holidays, sickness and evening games.

Now think about a nice 22,000 seater stadium, our average last year was 8,000ish it would enable the club to do offers like Leyton Orient, bring a friend for free which could potentially bring in a crowd of 16/18000 or and offer like Col U where NHS staff get tickets for a fiver which could bolster the crowd. We have in the past done offers for school children and we could possibly give 2,000 per game to encourage them to follow us. Then in a generations time (yes i am looking very long term) they might just bring their 2.4 children to watch and that 2,000 is now 6,800 more. We will be in the new stadium for a very long time, we wont fill it week in week out but in 25 years time whoknows ??

Good reply
Lets assume 1800 are for away fans and the north corner holds 500 for segregation,Leaving 10,200 for home fans yet the average crowd was only just over 10k and I suspect an average away following of around 1000 meaning around an average home gate of 9000,I can understand the need to progress and to try and increase the existing fanbase but to build and hope the fanbase doubles is crazy planning at best.

 

[weststander]

Good reply
,I can understand the need to progress and to try and increase the existing fanbase but to build and hope the fanbase doubles is crazy planning at best.

But the fanbase has already doubled in the last 10 years so why cant it double again in the next 10 years ???

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

Roots Hall may have 12,300 seats (12,500 according to the official website), i will conceed that but there will never be an occasion when every seat will be sold ! This is because the police insist on a certain amount allocated for the away fans and also a segregation area for safety reasons (We only managed 11,532 for the Man Utd match). The approximate amount of fans that can be accomodated in the stadium is around 11,500. Thus, using your figures for the Championship season the total capacity available is 264,500 which means that there were only 33,933 or an average of 1477 per game. When you consider that some away teams only bought followings of 1000 or so that means that 1000 seats were unused and unusable in the stadium, that would leave 477 of which there are plenty of severely restricted view tickets (Back row of south upper, first row of south lower and first row of west stand) lets for arguements sake say 250 of them leaves only 227 home seats per game that were unoccupied ! And even some of that could be accounted for in holidays, sickness and evening games.

The highest crowd at Roots Hall since it became all seater was 11,735 against Yeovil in 2005. The only segregation that day was 1 line of stewards halfway down the North Bank. All restricted view seats were sold that day.

Don't forget Southend do not include complimentary tickets in our official attandance figures (all legal & most lower league clubs don't include them either). So the Yeovil crowd that day was probably just over 12,000. For most games there are probably 300 or so people in the ground that are not included in the official attendance (mostly in the Blue East Stand seats).